Democrats sue for Saturday voting in Georgia Senate runoff

ATLANTA (AP) — U.S. Sen. Raphael Warnock's campaign and Democratic groups are suing the state of Georgia to overturn guidance by Republican Secretary of State Brad Raffensperger that counties can't offer Saturday voting ahead of next month's Senate runoff election.

The lawsuit, filed late Monday by the Democratic Party of Georgia, Democratic Senatorial Campaign Committee and the Warnock campaign, challenges the state's finding that it would be illegal to hold early voting on Nov. 26, the day after a state holiday. The lawsuit says the state's interpretation hurts Warnock in particular because Democrats tend to push early voting more than Republicans.

The race between Warnock and his Republican challenger, Herschel Walker, is headed to a Dec. 6 runoff after neither candidate won a majority of votes in the midterm election. Democrats have already secured control of the Senate but are hoping to increase their narrow margin with a Warnock victory.

“Illegal attempts to block Saturday voting are another desperate attempt by career politicians to squeeze the people out of their own democracy and to silence the voices of Georgians,” Quentin Fulks, Warnock’s campaign manager, said in a statement. “We’re aggressively fighting to protect Georgia voters’ ability to vote on Saturday.”